Miramar seeks new direction after longtime city manager retires

MIRAMAR — The city is on the hunt for a new leader with fresh ideas to push the city forward.

Long-time City Manager Robert Payton retired Monday evening after a tumultuous election season that brought a new face with a new vision to the commission.

His resignation also follows a city employee's complaints that Payton favored and employed his relatives.

Payton, 54, said his retirement was in the works for two years and that Monday was the right time to let go. He earned $208,000 a year. He will receive an annual pension benefit of $110,593.72, city staff said.

Deputy City Manager Wazir Ishmael was appointed interim city manager.

"It's absolutely not a sudden thing," said Payton. "I've made this one, highly-contemplated decision that I want to retire and try someplace else."

Payton said he's looking for an opportunity, possibly outside of Broward County, to continue public service.

Payton grew up in Miramar and started his 36-year career with the city as a garbage man, working his way up to city manager in 2001. Along the way, he met his wife Kimberly, who retired from the city shortly after he assumed the role of city manager.

"Between my life and Miramar, there was never any separation," said Payton. "Everything about me was Miramar."

Paul Bennett, a human resources officer with the city, says that Payton, his family and the city may have been too interconnected.

Payton's brother, Christopher, retired from the city in 2007, started collecting his pension and was soon rehired as a recreational leader earning $25 an hour, said city staff. Bennett said that position normally pays $8.60 an hour.

Bennett also alleges that the city overpaid Payton's wife by $500 for at least five years. He said she was at the top of her pay scale and shouldn't have been eligible for promotions.

"It's a disgrace," said Bennett. "I would be up in arms if this is how my tax dollars were being spent —bringing back relatives."

Payton's career was also marred by his involvement in the public corruption and government contracting scandal that sent former Miramar Commissioner Fitzroy Salesman and former School Board Member Beverly Gallagher to federal prison. Prosecutors said Payton facilitated a corrupt contract but he was not charged with any crime.

Mayor Lori Moseley said that Payton served the city honorably during his career.

She said the city grew economically under his leadership and credits him for working with commissioners to create Miramar's Town Center, the multi-service complex, the youth enrichment center and the new police station.

Payton was also at the helm of the city as it grew from 72,000 residents to more than 123,000 residents.

"We rode the biggest crest of a wave — the only cities growing faster than us were in Arizona," said Payton.

But at least one commissioner made it clear she was ready for a change in the city's top position.

"With a new commissioner on board and possibly a new direction, maybe we need a new leader," said Commissioner Alexandra Davis, referring to Commissioner Yvette Colbourne, who was sworn in Monday. "I wasn't going to stand in the way of his resignation."

Davis said, at times, she received push back from Payton. She said the eastern, historic side of Miramar "got lost in the fray" as money and energy was pumped into the town center and opening Ansin Park on the western side.

"We can no longer sit by and say it's an older section and in time we'll get to it," she said.

The city commission will schedule a workshop in April to discuss hiring a new city manager.

Davis said she wants to find a city manager with a new, fresh perspective. Moseley said she's inclined to give Ishmael, the interim city manager, the opportunity to stay in that position.

"He may very well end up being who should be our city manager, and then we save money on a search," said Moseley.